(Saleque Sufi is an expatriate engineer by profession, but has been writing sports for many years. He wrote world cup countdown for Banglanews for last five weeks. This is the final piece from him before the world cup and he will be writing more for Banglanews readers during the month-long tournament)
The greatest show on the earth, Soccer FIFA World Cup 2014 will have grand gala opening midnight tonight (Bangladesh time) in the land of Joga Bonita, Brazil. Billions of football frenzy people all over the world will be deeply engrossed in the soccer bonanza for a month.
Perhaps Football is the only universal language, only religion that binds people of all ages, all regions irrespective of political or ethnic identities. Football is a game that crosses all barriers, all ages, all cultures, all religions and all divides. Legends like Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Beckenbaur, Euesebio and modern stars Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar are admired and adored all across the world. The entire world is now in the grip of soccer fever.
Brazil world cup in unique in a sense that all eight previous winners Brazil, Italy, Germany, Argentina, Uruguay, England, France and Spain are among the participants vying for the cup. Fans of every team are ready to enjoy the beauty of soccer even if in many countries people have to forget about mid night and early morning sleep.
Bangladesh is nowhere in the world football and a berth to the world cup is next to impossible. But, Bangladeshi RMG workers have supplied the jersey of the players and supports while Pakistan factories are supplying the footballs. So the people of subcontinent are also being represented in some way or other over there.
Experts, pundits and even fortune tellers are making various predictions, permutations and combinations about the possible and probable outcome of this very intense and prestigious competition. Forms of individual players, team combinations, strategies adopted by the coaches, formation of play, climatic conditions and adaptability with the condition__ almost everything is analyzed in depth while considering favorites for such an event.
FIFA ranking often gives wrong impressions. It is a month long tournament. The team which will win the trophy ultimately will have to endure extensive mental and physical stress consistently for seven matches. Talents and skills of the entire team including the bench strength will matter when teams of equal strength will come face to face. Since the tournament is in South America and no teams other than South Americans won the cup from South American soil before, teams of South American continent will have the edge. Moreover, at least four South American teams – Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile are in red hot form.
Some European teams like Champion Spain, strong Germany, CR7’s Portugal, Belgium and Netherlands, on the other hand, are also in good ford. Teams like Colombia, Cote d”voir, Nigeria, France and Italy have quality and caliber to go the distance. Even Mexico, Bosnia, Costa Rica are also considered as dark horses. World Cup 2014 is really going to be a wide open tournament. Teams having character and past proven track records of winning will survive.
We in last five weeks have reviewed and analyzed the qualification matches of all contenders, performances of key players over the last two soccer seasons, strategies the coaches adopt for predicting the outcome of matches. This is very likely that it will create mind boggling thoughts and debates. As a human being it is impossible for anyone to ignore absolutely personal likings. But we tried to remain as objective as possible.
Let us start with groups level discussions.
Group A: Brazil, Croatia, Cameroon, Mexico.
Group B: Spain, Netherlands, Chile, Australia
Group C: Colombia, Greece , Cote d’voire, Japan
Group D: Uruguay, Italy, England, Costa Rica
Group E: Switzerland, Ecuador, France, Honduras
Group F: Argentina, Bosnia & Harzegoina, Nigeria, Iran
Group G: Germany, Portugal, USA, Ghana
Group H: Belgium, Russia, South Korea, Algeria
Of the eight groups, B and D appear to be groups of death making it extremely difficult to predict which two of the four in these groups will emerge for the knock outs. From other groups favorites will have relatively easy sailing. After the first round it appears that the situation would read
A1: Brazil, A2 Croatia; B1: Chile, B2: Spain
C1: Cote d’ voir, C2 Colombia; D1: Uruguay, D2 Italy
E1: France, E2: Ecuador; F1: Argentina, F2: Bosnia & Herzegovina
G1: Germany, G2 Portugal; H1: Belgium, H2: Algeria
This will make knock out phase of Group 16 like
Brazil V Spain, Chile V Croatia
Cote d’voir V Italy, Uruguay v Colombia
France V Bosnia& Herzegovina, Argentina V Ecuador
Germany V Algeria, Portugal v Belgium.
In group A other than brazil all three teams-----Cameroon, Croatia and Mexico could make the second spot but we have picked Croatia for the fact that after the first match against Brazil they will be better placed to assess what they need to salvage from the rest of the matches . Since Cameroon and Mexico will play Brazil later they will get more settled Brazil.
Group B is one of the groups of death from where one of the fancied side has to say goodbye early. Spain and the Netherlands will play the first match of the group and one of them is likely to leave as Chile is now playing very good football and in own continent will be extremely difficult proposition. We have picked Chile and Spain from group B.
From Group C we have picked Didier Drogba’s Cote d’voir Iivory Coast and Columbia. Greece and Japan cannot cope with these two relatively stronger teams of the group.
Group D is another group of death where three previous champions Uruguay, Italy and England also have Costa Rica to fight out. Prediction from this group can be very tricky. Uruguay will have advantage of playing in own continent. Costa Rica can spoil dreams of one of the favorites. Uruguay will probably go through. We have picked Italy to go ahead along with Uruguay.
From Group E we have picked France and Ecuador as in our opinion Switzerland and Honduras may not endure the challenges of these two stronger teams in the group.
From Group F we have picked favorite Argentina and first timer Bosnia & Harzegovina to advance. We thought about Nigeria very seriously but we thought the Super Eagles may again fail to dare in Brazil.
From Group G our pick is Germany and Portugal. Other two teams USA and Ghana will test the favorites of the group but cannot topple them.
From Group H we picked strong Belgium and Algeria.
The business session will be keenly contested and outcome will be extremely difficult to predict. Some of the matches may go to penalty shootout as well.
In the analysis, the quarter final line up may look as
QF 1: Brazil v Cote d ‘voir, QF2: Chile v Uruguay
QF3: France v Germany, QF4: Argentina v Belgium
Then semifinal may look like
Semi Final 1: Brazil v Germany, Semi Final 2: Argentina v Chile
In South America there is every possibility that three South American teams may advance to semifinal stage. Brazil and Argentina will almost definitely get there. European giants Spain and Portugal for the very nature of unkind draw will have early exit. Germany will be the likely semifinalist against favorite Brazil while two South American giants Argentina and Chile may fight out the semifinal.
Many pundits will likely predict a Euro South American final. But can Germany really beat Brazil in a semi Final in Brazil? Possibly not. On the other hand Argentina is expected to win against Chile. The stage will be set for a dream World Cup Final
Final: Brazil v Argentina
This may or may not happen exactly like this. Somewhere there will be some upsets. Some dark horses will turn the table on any of the favorites. But if it turns out like this we hope billions of soccer fans all over the world will witness the football battle of the century as the two south American football giants now have several brilliant creative footballers who can really produce magical football . The draw has created situation for teams like Spain and Portugal to drop off a bit too early. It may not be possible for the best footballer of the world now Christiano Ronaldo to carry his team Portugal beyond the quarter final stage as Belgium is now playing excellent football. Current Champion Spain will have early exit being exposed to host and hot favorite Brazil very early. Even at their best Spain cannot upset Brazil in its current form at their own fort.
We know the third world is divided mostly into two fronts__ Brazil and Argentina. The fans of other teams Germany, Portugal, France, Italy or England cannot match the number of fans of the two great soccer nations. The draw also favored the opportunity of two greats Brazil and Argentina meet in the final at Maracana Stadium. If that happens that will be a match of the century. If there is any slippage here and there Germany or Spain may manage to reach the final. But that possibility is a bit remote. In South American hot and humid climate and in some cases at higher altitude European teams may struggle to acclimatize. Moreover, at least four South American teams are very strong in this World Cup. Playing 90 minutes of quality football consistently may not be easy for European teams.
The final match, if between Brazil and Argentina, will be battle royal. Brazil will rather fancy playing Argentina than Uruguay remembering what happened at Marcana in the past. It will be anybody’s game. Brilliant Messi vs Brazilian skills. My head goes for Argentina but heart remains with Brazil to win the cup. My heart is stronger than my head all the time. Let the Samba Brand in the land of Joga Bonito meaning beautiful football have the last laugh. Let there not be another Maracana curse for the Football Worshippers of Brazil. No one even I am not free from Soccer mania.
BDST: 0833 HRS, JUNE 12, 2014
